This is an attempt to write an extensive (official) buildings reference. It will contain detailed information on the usage of each building and the interactions between some of them. Furthermore, it will answer some frequently asked questions that either have been asked in the past or might come up in the future. These data will be marked with filled stars ( ).

Some buildings aren't very useful in solo games, or may cause other potential problems. I'll address these issues after the factual data. Also, I might propose official and non-official variant ideas.

Finally, I'll drop some lines on each building talking about its strategic potential. This part is solely my opinion and shall not be considered official. It will be put in italics to seperate it from the factual data, and marked with empty stars ( ).

The texts are in English, the card images are in German. I will not add individual English card images to the database. It's already clogged up enough with the German ones.

I'll go through the buildings chronologically. I'll start with the start buildings, continue with the standard ones and, finally, add the special buildings in the order of publishing.

Update 2010/12/31: I've gone through all descriptions again and changed the wording here and there. I hope, this guide is now even more helpful.

Abbreviations

The abstracts of the building data follow this pattern:

[building symbol, price/value, additional symbols, entry fee]

Building symbols: Craft (C), Economic (E), Industrial (I), No Building (N), Public (P), Ship (S) Price/value: the price in francs to purchase the building, and its franc value (incl. "+" for bonus buildings) Additional symbols: # + abbreviation; H = hammer, A = fishing Entry fee: F = franc, N = food, or "free", or "locked" If there is a building cost, it'll be posted as well.

Feel free to post comments or additional thoughts or improvements. I'll consider adding them to the original posts.

"As soon as the Dunny is turned over, place it on the Building Proposals pile whose top building shows the highest Sort order number."

This building cannot be entered as an action. When it enters the game, check the card numbers of the topmost buildings in the Building Proposals piles. Place the Dunny on top of the building with the highest number. Like any building in the Building Proposals, you may build or buy it. Once the Dunny leaves the Building Proposals (due to construction or purchase), it never returns there, even if sold.

The Dunny is really special as it is a special building that can be built. Another such building is the Football Stadium. It's the building with the best building costs/value ratio in the game. It's effectively worth 18 francs if you can get the Town Hall. If you ask me, a must-build. It serves no purpose in the game despite its value.

Interesting, but absolutely irrelevant: Its card number (00) is often used as a symbol for toilets in Germany.

"The owner of the Workers' Cottages has two Main Actions instead of one during the Final Stage (after the last Round card has been resolved). He takes the actions one after another."

This building cannot be entered as an action. As the owner, you gain another final action without any additional cost. During the final action phase, when it comes to your turn, you just perfom two actions in a row, before the next player gets to take his/her action. Of course, once you sell this building, you lose this benefit. In particular, you may not sell it during the second final action you take.

The real value of the Workers' Cottages depends on how you plan your final actions. It can be worth nothing extra if, after your first final action, there is nothing you could do to gain at least 1 franc. Or it may be worth a ton more if you manage, due to the extra action, to make another shipment or a similar valuable action. Anyway, the Workers' Cottages is an immediate must-buy. It doesn't even cost more than it's worth like other such buildings do. I'd even consider selling another building if I lacked some francs to buy the Workers' Cottages. It's effectively worth 16 francs if you can get the Town Hall.

"Each player receives a hand of 3 Special buildings. The first player to enter the Construction Site exchanges it for a card from his/her hand and uses the new building immediately. S/he can only avoid paying the entry fee if s/he buys the building. After this, all players discard their hands of cards."

This building cannot be purchased. Once it enters the game, deal each player a hand of 3 Special buildings. Take these cards from the unused ones that you've put back into the box at the beginning of the game. When you enter the Construction Site, choose one of your hand cards. It may not be a constructible building, like the Dunny or Football Stadium. Exchanges that building with the Construction Site. Now, enter that building, if possible. You may not enter it if it's locked or if you can't perform its action. To avoid the entry fee, you may buy the building before you enter. After this, all players discard their hands. Note, as the Construction Site was exchanged with the new building, it now leaves the game as part of your hand.

Recommendation: If someone gets one or more constructible buildings on hand, let them discard these and draw replacement cards.This way all players will have 3 valid cards on hand.

Don't under-estimate the power of the Construction Site! You may decide on which special building replaces it. Also, you don't lose an action if you're able to enter the new building immediately.

Variant

There are people constantly complaining that there are too few special buildings each game. This is an untested proposition to allow for more of them. Also, this variant allows for special buildings in short games.

Setup: Place the Contruction Site to the start buildings. It's available from the beginning. Randomly choose 6 special buildings and place them on the proper space on the board. These are the regular special buildings to enter the game as usual. If you play the short game, skip this step. Place the shuffled deck of remaining special building cards face-down next to the board. Deal 3 cards from this stack to each player.

In-game: Whenever you enter the Construction Site, play one of your cards to the town. Enter the new building, if possible. As usual, you may buy that new building to avoid the entry fee. The Construction Site stays where it is. Do not take it in your hand and do not remove it from play. At the end of your turn, draw a new special building. Do not draw from the special buildings on the board.

If you don't want to allow for special buildings from the beginning of the game, take 5 random special buildings at the beginning of the game and put the Construction Site on top, or shuffle it in. Deal hand cards when it enters the game regularly and proceed like described above.

The Logging Camp is one of few special buildings that deal with food directly. The other ones are the Coal Trader and Junkyard. You may convert food to wood here. Pay 1 food to get 1 wood. This can be done up to 7 times. You don't need to pay energy for the conversion. You don't receive any money for it. Don't take the wood from the Offer space. You may not enter this building if you don't convert at least 1 food.

The Logging Camp is best at the beginning of the game when there is a fight for building resources. Towards the end of the game you rather won't use it anymore as wood will pile up on the Offer spaces. Ownership might be interesting for the Fishing and Hammer symbol.

"A player who visits a modernised Wharf may, instead of taking an Action, remove one of his/her own Luxury Liners from the game and exchange it (at no cost) to acquire the MS Dagmar from the town. The MS Dagmar counts as a Luxury Liner."

The MS Dagmar is one of two buildings that, in fact, are ships (see Luxury Yacht). It counts as a Luxury Liner. It cannot be entered as an action. You may buy it for 50 francs, or visit a Wharf to get it. If you do the latter, remove one of your Luxury Liners from the game. Then take the MS Dagmar at no additional cost. The Wharfneeds to be modernised in order to make this exchange. If it hasn't been modernised, yet, you need to modernise it yourself. The exchange consumes your ship building action. You don't get to build a ship on top of the exhange. The MS Dagmar has no building costs and, thus, cannot be built.

Erratum: The MS Dagmar is lacking a Ship symbol on the card.The MS Dagmar is a ship and therefore counts towards the Dock, for example.

A fair way to rise the value of a Luxury Liner. Effectively worth between 12-20 francs, depending on the returned Luxury Liner. However, the only way to get 20 francs out of it would be to exchange the very last Luxury Liner that comes after the last round. Usually, this isn't possible as you've got only one final action. The are two ways, though, to accomplish this anyway:1) Workers' Cottages: As its owner, you get two final actions.2) Main Station: If you're occupying this building, you get to visit two buildings in a row.In both scenarios, though, there either need to be two Wharves in play or you need to be the owner of one of them, so you can sell it after your first visit. The MS Dagmar is the most valuable building in the game according to its printed value. It gets even more valuable if you can get the Dock.

"Pile different goods from your supply on the Pawnbroker's, and take 2 Francs per good. You can redeem your goods at any time. Pay 2 Francs for each good.(You need not to visit the Pawnbroker's to redeem goods.)"

On entry, pile any number of different goods on the Pawnbroker's. Take 2 francs per good from the general supply, not the Franc Offer. No good may be loaned twice, even if spread over two or more visits. Upgraded goods are different from their standard counterparts. So, the maximum number of goods each player may place here is 16. Each player maintains his/her own pile of goods. Consequently, you are allowed to loan goods that other players did. Without taking an action and at any time during the game, you may redeem your goods for 2 francs per good. You don't need to loan as many goods as you have. You don't need to redeem them all at once. You don't need to redeem them at all. There is no penalty for having goods at the Pawnbroker's at the end of the game.

An easy way to get cash quickly. 7 goods are sufficient to get a Wooden ship. 10 goods are sufficient to get an Iron ship. Although it's possible, you rather won't loan 15 goods to get a Steel ship. Most goods have a shipping value of 2 francs or less, so are best to be loaned at the Pawnbroker's. Good candidates: fish, wood, clay, iron, grain, hides, smoked fish, charcoal, brick, meat. Not recommended: cattle, coal, steel, bread, coke. Ownership might be interesting if you can get the Bank.

"Once a player owns the Pirates' Lair, s/he receives 1 Franc from the proceeds of each Ship that sails with the Shipping Line."

One of 3 aggressive buildings in the game (see Dive Bar and Cattle Drive). This building cannot be entered as an action. Each time a player ships goods, the owner receives 1 franc per ship from that player. Naturally, the owner doesn't pay anything when shipping. This building comes with a Pirate symbol that serves no purpose. It's there just for theme.

Recommendation: Remove this building before the game if playing solo.This is an interactive building you won't be happy about if playing solo.

At a price of 4 francs you rob players from their earnings at the Shipping Line. Assuming each player is shipping about twice with 3 ships each time, this is 6 francs per other player. This either forces the other players to play more efficiently, or to persuit other strategies than heavy shipping. In 2-player games, you effectively gain 2 francs per ship that your opponent uses for shipping.

The Junkyard is one of few special buildings that deal with food directly. The other ones are the Coal Trader and Logging Camp. You may convert food to iron here. Pay 2 food to get 1 iron. This can be done up to 5 times. You don't need to pay energy for the conversion. You don't receive any money for it. Don't take the iron from the Offer space. You may not enter this building if you don't convert at least 2 food.

The Junkyard is a good alternative to the Ironworks. Especially good towards the end of the game if you have left-over food and need some iron for steel conversion. 8 food are sufficient to get the iron needed for an Iron ship. The Junkyard comes with a very cheap Hammer Symbol. Ownership might be even more interesting if you can get the Bank.

"When a player is sent home, s/he goes to the Dive Bar and pays 2 Francs to the Treasury. The owner of the Dive Bar only pays 1 Franc. There may be several people in the Dive Bar at once."

One of 3 aggressive buildings in the game (see Pirates' Lair and Cattle Drive). This building cannot be entered as an action. Whenever a player is sent home, his/her player disc is put in the Dive Bar. The affected player must pay 2 francs to the Treasury. As the owner of the Dive Bar, you only pay 1 franc. The affected player is allowed to sell buildings or take a loan if s/he doesn't have enough francs to pay. There is no limit on how many players may occupy the Dive Bar.

Recommendation: Remove this building before the game if playing solo.This is an interactive building you won't be happy about if playing solo.

Recommendation: If you don't like the Dive Bar to be so nasty, do not consider its purchase or sale as sending players home.See the comments below about the nastiest move possible. If you don't like it, don't allow for it!

The Dive Bar is a really nasty building. It encourages the purchase or sale of a building if another player is in there. As the consequence of purchase or sale of a building, the player occupying it is "sent home", thus, needs to go directly to the Dive Bar and pay the fee. Another way to send players home is to enter the Harbour Watch or use the Tobacco Factory. However, it can get even nastier! A purchase or sale of the Dive Bar itself, sends those players in it home. Thus, they must immediately enter the Dive Bar again, and pay another 2 francs. So, keep an eye on who is the current owner and how many players are sitting in the Dive Bar. The more there are, the greater the probability that another player gets nasty and buys or sells the Dive Bar to simply annoy others. Ownership might be interesting as you only pay 1 franc when sent home and if you can get the Bank.

"Take the tokens from one Offer space. In their next turn, each other player must also take tokens from an Offer space. After that, the Picket Line is removed from the game.(From the start of the last round, the Picket Line can no longer be entered.)"

On entry, take an Offer of your choice. Now each other player in turn must also take an Offer when it's his/her turn. When it comes back to your turn, the Picket Line is removed from play. It is removed regardless of whether it belongs to a player or not. Its owner receives no compensation, but s/he is allowed to sell it before it is removed from play. It can't be entered in the last round of the game, thus, you can't screw any player's final action.

Recommendation: Remove this building before the game if playing solo.This is an interactive building you won't be happy about if playing solo.

A nasty interactive building that can screw the plans of your opponents for one round. Very valuable for the owner of the Town Hall due to its very low price. However, do not buy it too early as you might lose it if another player enters it. If you plan to take an Offer anyway, do it by visiting the Picekt Line to screw the other players.

"The owner of the Tobacco Factory can remove other Players from his/her buildings during his/her turn."

This is one of two special buildings that allows you to remove players from buildings. Another one is the Harbour Watch. This building cannot be entered as an action. As the owner, you may send players home who occupy any of your buildings. You can't do this outside your turn. You may only do this once per building per turn (see footnote ).

Recommendation: Remove this building before the game if playing solo.This is an interactive building you won't be happy about if playing solo.

This building allows you to enter your own buildings whenever you like wihtout having to sell them. Try to plan ahead and get buildings you will need the most. It can become nasty with the Dive Bar in play. On your turn, you will just send all players home and they'll need to pay. Ownership is almost mandatory, especially if you can get the Town Hall. At a price of 6, you need to be really careful when this building enters the game. Be sure that you are the last player to visit the Marketplace before a special building is built by the town.

_______________________

This is an erratum added to disable the owner of both, this building and the Dive Bar, to repeatedly remove players from the Dive Bar so that they lose an infinite amount of cash (as they would immediately have to return to the Dive Bar and pay 2 Francs over and over again).

"Each other player who has at least 1 Cattle must give you 1 Cattle.In the 2-player game, you receive 2 Cattle from your opponent."

One of 3 aggressive buildings in the game (see Pirates' Lair and Dive Bar). On entry, look at the other player's supplies. Every player who has at least 1 cattle, must give you 1 cattle. In a 2-player game, take 2 cattle from your opponent, if possible. If your opponent has only 1 cattle, you only get that 1 cattle. You may not enter this building if no other player has at least 1 cattle.

Recommendation: Remove this building before the game if playing solo.This is an interactive building you won't be happy about if playing solo.

A rather weak building despite its aggressive nature. You'll get 1-4 cattle at most while your opponents lose 1-2 cattle. You might consider a visit if you're desperate on cattle. It might become a little stronger if there are other special buildings out that deal with cattle, meat, hides, or leather. Ownership isn't of much interest unless you really want to visit it often.

"Le Grand Hameau" is the first expansion to Le Havre that comes with 30 new special buildings. All cards from this expansion have a different background color than the base game cards, however, the backs of the cards are, of course, still the same. Some of the cards have been proposed by BGG members. They are mentioned on the back of the box.

Interesting, but totally irrelevant: Initially, it was planned to release 32 buildings. Later, Uwe came up with the idea to include some corrected cards for the base game and we had to reduce the total number to 30. The two buildings that got banned from this set have still been released as promo cards in Essen.

"When building, the owner of the Wooden Crane can replace any 1 Building resource with 1 Wood."

This building cannot be entered as an action. Instead of providing a discount like the Sawmill or Masons' Guild, this building just replaces one token with wood. Please note, although you're allowed to replace any resource with wood, this does not change the printed building costs. For example, you may not enter the Sawmill to build the Charcoal Kiln. It still costs 1 clay and no wood. You do not get a discount when building ships. This building only works for other buildings.

Combined with the Sawmill or Lumber Mill, you can effectively build any building for any one token less. In the former case, the building must already cost wood. For example, combined with the Lumber Mill, you can get the Bank without paying steel. Replace steel with wood, then do not pay that wood due to the Lumber Mill. Ownership might be even more interesting for the Hammer symbol or if you can get the Town Hall.

This building cannot be entered as an action. This building is like a private Sawmill. It reduces the building costs by 1 wood. Unlike the Sawmill, the printed building costs do not need to picture wood in order to apply the bonus (see Wooden Crane). The bonus is per building. If you enter the Construction Firm and build 2 buildings, each one of them will cost 1 fewer wood. As the owner, you'll be able to build several buildings for free (see footnote ). Any discounts by other buildings accumulate. As the owner, if you visit the Sawmill, you get a discount of up to 2 wood per building. You do not get a discount when building ships. This building only works for other buildings.

This building is particularly strong if paired with the Wooden Crane. That combo lets you first replace a building material with wood, and then claim your discount for the Lumber Mill. 21/30 standard buildings require wood (see footnote ). Ownership might be even more interesting for the Hammer symbol or if you can get the Town Hall.

"As you leave the Main Station, you can use two buildings one after another, without paying Entry fees. You may not return to the Main Station in that turn. You cannot be evicted from the Main Station. (no building action on entry)"

This is one of two special buildings with a secure stay (see Hotel). On entry, you do nothing. You do not perform any building action, nor do you take an Offer. Although you do nothing, entry still counts as your main action for this turn. While you occupy the Main Station, no player can remove your player disc from there. On purchase or sale, your disc stays where it is unlike any normal building. In particular, you can't be targeted by the Harbour Watch or Tobacco Factory. When you leave the building, you must visit two other buildings one after another. You must visit two different buildings. You may not visit the same building twice (e.g. by selling/purchasing it in-between). Both these visits are part of the Main Station's action, so they count as one main action. You can't leave the Main Station and visit only one building; both your visits must be finished in one turn. As a special benefit, you don't pay entry fees for both the visits. When you leave the Main Station during the final action phase, you still must visit two more buildings. In this particular case, you cannot be blocked from other buildings on both the visits.

On entry, you delay your current action to a future turn. When leaving, you get an extra building action. In fact, you get the action back you lost on entry. The net benefit are the saved entry fee payments. Please note, when you visit the Habour Watch as part of your two visits, you still have to pay the entry fee of the building you ban another player from! This is part of the Harbour Watch action and not affected by the Main Station. If you own the Workers' Cottages and leave the Main Station during the final action phase, you get two building actions (for the Main Station) and another one (for the Workers' Cottages). This 3rd action doesn't need to be a building action, of course. Do not enter the Main Station as your final action (unless, of course, you also own the Workers' Cottages and don't visit the Main Station as your 2nd final action). Reason: There is no turn after the final one, so you effectively lost an action. Ownership does not guarantee you an entry. If another player enters the Main Station, even a sale will not remove him/her. Ownership might still be interesting if you can get the Town Hall.

"While you occupy the Hotel, you receive 3 Francs from the Treasury whenever you take goods from an Offer space instead of taking a building action. You cannot be evicted from the Hotel. (no building action on entry)"

This is one of two special buildings with a secure stay (see Main Station). On entry, you do nothing. Although you do nothing, entry still counts as your main action for this turn. While you occupy the Hotel, no player can remove your player disc from there. On purchase or sale, your disc stays where it is unlike any normal building. In particular, you can't be targeted by the Harbour Watch or Tobacco Factory. As long as you stay in the Hotel, you get an extra 3 francs for each Offer you take.

This building, at first glance, seems over-powered. However, on entry, you sacrifice an action for a future benefit. As long as you're in the Hotel, you get 3 francs when taking an Offer. You may stay in the Hotel as long as you wish - no player is able to prevent this. However, keep in mind, as long as you stay there, you don't get to visit any buildings. Although possible, it's not recommended to stay in the Hotel for too long. You can't win the game by staying there forever. Even in a two-player game, the maximum you can get there is 120 francs. This alone is hardly sufficient to win the game and we still didn't factor in the food requirements at the end of each round. So, find the right balance, and time your visit thoroughly. Ownership does not guarantee you an entry. If another player enters the Hotel, even a sale will not remove him/her. Ownership might still be interesting if you can get the Bank.

This is one of two special buildings that have a conditional limitation (see Wainwright's). You may sell hides for money here. The number of hides you may sell depends on the number of leather you have. Each leather supports 2 sales of 1 hide. Receive 4 francs per hide from the general supply, and return the hides there. Don't take the francs from the Offer space. You don't need to pay energy for the sale. You don't lose your leather! Keep it. You may not enter this building if you don't have at least 1 leather or if you don't sell at least 1 hide.

4 francs is double the shipping value of hides. Plus, you don't need any energy like you would on the Shipping Line. Still, it's limited to 2 sales per leather. 2 leather and 4 hides sold may finance a Wooden ship. 3 leather and 5 hides sold may finance an Iron ship. 4 leather and 8 hides sold may finance a Steel ship. Ownership might be interesting if you can get the Town Hall.

This is one of two buildings that have a conditional limitation (see Fur Factory). You may sell wood for money here. The number of wood you may sell depends on the number of iron you have. Each iron supports 1 sale of 2 wood. Receive 5 francs from the general supply and return the wood there. Don't take the francs from the Offer space. You don't need to pay energy for the sale. You don't lose your iron! Keep it.Steel is iron and, thus, increases the number of available sales. You may not enter this building if you don't have at least 1 iron or if you don't sell at least 1 wood. Please note, you can't sell a single wood with this building. It needs to be a pair, unlike the Fur Factory.

5 francs is more than double the shipping value of a pair of wood! Plus, you don't need any energy like you would on the Shipping Line. Still, it's limited to 1 sale per iron. 3 iron and 6 wood sold may finance a Wooden ship. 4 iron and 8 wood sold may finance an Iron ship. 6 iron and 12 wood sold may finance a Steel ship. Ownership might be interesting if you can get the Town Hall.

"At the end of each round, the owner receives 1 Fish (In a 1-2 player game, 2 Fish).As an action, receive 1 more fish per pair of fish."

This is a unique hybrid building: As the owner, you have a constant benefit, but anyone may enter it to use its building action. As the owner, receive 1-2 fishes at the end of each round (depending on the number of players). You get the fish prior to feeding, so it's effectively 1 food per round. As an action, you can procreate your fishes; for each pair of fish, you get 1 more fish. The fish you get can't be used to get additional fish with the same action; the most you can get is 50% more fish.

Recommendation: Do not use this building with the Zoo.Especially, 1-2 player games may degenerate if your opponents do not realise the power of this combo.

This building is extremely valuable in 5-player games as it is even better than a Wooden ship (food-wise) and much cheaper. Regardless of the number of players, this building is effectively worth 1 food at the end of each round. If you have a surplus of food, you can keep your fish, of course. This is better than a ship. A ship doesn't pay out surplus food. In case you wonder how the Fisherman's Hut compares to a Wooden ship depending on the number of players, here are the stats: • 1-player: 0.4× Wooden ship • 2-player: 0.5× Wooden ship • 3-player: 0.3× Wooden ship • 4-player: 0.5× Wooden ship • 5-player: 1.0× Wooden ship The building action, on the other hand, usually won't have much impact. You'd need to have insane amounts of fish or visit it frequently to benefit from it. The Fisherman's Hut has a Fishing Symbol for the Fishery, where you can get even more fish. Ownership might be even more interesting if you can get the Town Hall.

"Provides the same food as a Wooden ship at the end of each round. (5/4/3/2/1 food with 1/2/3/4/5 players)"

The Soup Kitchen cannot be entered as an action. It acts pretty much like a Wooden ship. It's even cheaper. The main difference is that the Soup Kitchen cannot ship goods on the Shipping Line.

Worth consideration if it comes very early. You sacrifice 8 francs for this building, so make sure you don't buy it too late in the game. This is, when you should consider a purchase depending on the number of players: • 1-player: round 6 at the latest • 2-player: round 12 at the latest • 3-player: round 16 at the latest • 4-player: round 16 at the latest • 5-player: round 12 at the latest Please note, the above numbers do not factor in that you most probably might have enough ships at that time, so you wouldn't need an extra food source. The Soup Kitchen has a Fishing symbol for the Fishery, where you can get even more food. Ownership might be even more interesting if you can get the Town Hall.

"Either: Purchase up to 7 times 1 cattle for 1 franc.Or: Sell up to 7 times 1 cattle for 3 francs."

This is one of two special buildings where you need to decide on one of two possible actions (see Brick Trader). You may buy or sell cattle here. Either buy up to 7 cattle for 1 franc each. Or sell up to 7 cattle for 3 francs each. You may not do both, sell and buy cattle at the same time. You may not enter this building if you don't sell or buy at least 1 cattle.

This building provides two good options. 1) You may sell cattle for their shipping value. Plus, you don't need any energy like you would on the Shipping Line. 2) You may buy cheap cattle that you might even sell back on a future action. Such a move costs 2 actions and yields 14 francs. Ownership might be interesting if you can get the Town Hall.

"Either: Purchase up to 5 times 1 brick for 1 franc.Or: Sell up to 5 times 1 brick for 3 francs."

This is one of two special buildings where you need to decide on one of two possible actions (see Cattle Market). You may buy or sell bricks here. Either buy up to 5 bricks for 1 franc each. Or sell up to 5 bricks for 3 francs each. You may not do both, sell and buy bricks at the same time. You may not enter this building if you don't sell or buy at least 1 brick.

This building provides two good options. 1) You may sell bricks for 1 franc more than their shipping value. Plus, you don't need any energy like you would on the Shipping Line. 2) You may buy cheap bricks here that you might even sell back on a future action. Such a move costs 2 actions and yields 10 francs. I wouldn't recommend this unless you're deseprate on a few francs. It's better to use the bricks for building as they are easier to get here than at the Brickworks. The latter requires you to collect clay. This building is especially useful if you run out of bricks and would need some more for building. Also, it's a good way to get rid of surplus bricks here towards the end of the game. It may be even part of your strategy. Collect the late-game clay nobody wants, turn them into bricks, then sell them here in-between your other actions (like shipping). Ownership might be interesting if you can get the Bank.

You may sell pairs of wood and clay for money here. Receive 3 francs per pair from the general supply and return the sold goods there. Don't take the francs from the Offer space. You don't need to pay energy for the sale.Bricks are clay, so you may use bricks instead of clay. You may not enter this building if you don't sell at least 1 pair of wood and clay.

3 francs is even 1 franc better than the combined shipping values of wood and clay. Plus, you wouldn't sell wood and clay on the Shipping Line anyway, and you save the energy costs. This building rather hurts at the beginning of the game as wood and clay are so much more needed for building. It can generate some early cash, though. 5 wood and 5 clay are sufficient to finance a Wooden ship. Your net gain: You save 1 food entry fee and replace 3 energy with 5 clay. Consider yourself if this is worth it. 7 wood and 7 clay are sufficient to finance an Iron ship. This is even less worth it than the purchase of a Wooden ship with the proceeds from this building. 10 wood and 10 clay are sufficient to finance a Steel ship. This may be actually worth it if you don't want to bother with steel. The Clay Company really starts to shine towards the end of the game, when there are huge piles of wood and clay that nobody wants. Ownership might be interesting if you can get the Town Hall.

You may convert clay to iron here. Pay 2 energy for each clay you want to convert. Receive 1 iron per clay from the general supply and return the clay there. Don't take the iron from the Offer space. You may not enter this building if you don't convert at least 1 clay.

This building is lousy in the early game, but shines towards the end. The useless end-game clay can now be turned into very useful iron for just 2 energy per clay. A single coke supports 5 conversions. A very quick way to get a lot of iron at a fair price. Ownership might be interesting if you can get the Bank.